joining us in minneapolis anna marie cox, a correspondent from the guardian and ken vogel. >> anna inryh's says santorum's quotes about women in the military completely misunderstands the nature of modern warfare. i hate to say it, but doesn't gingrich have a point? >> i think rick santorum understands the nature of a lot of modern things, including gender releases and families. but younknow i think yes. newt gingrich is clever, let's say that. he does have a command of facts even if he doesn't choose to use them. santorum does seem to be off base on this. he doesn't seem to understand the way that modern warfare is fought or the roles different people play in it. this is another example of weirdly how social issues have come to the front in this race if that's what they're attacking each other about. that is basically good for rick santorum in his appear, by the way. >> every time a non-romney candidate takes the lead, his past comes back to bite him. do you think that pattern will hold for santorum, particularly his magnificently well paid career as a lobbyist? >> well, certainly you

joining us in minneapolis is anna marie cox. good afternoon.went out with stalin but wasn't darrell issa's hearing that. you watched it. >> i did. it was very interesting piece of theater. darrell issa has gone on the record to say he does create theater in his committee, which is the government oversight committee. >> do you mean theater of the absurd? >> it is usually theater of the absurd. this was particularly absurd, even surreal. there were a lot of people that tweeted a picture of the witness panel, which was of four middle-aged men. i wrote a column about this, but i felt like i didn't have to. i could have just posted the picture. >> what could be wrong with a group of men all over the age of 40 discussing female contraception? what point are you making? what could be wrong with that and what could be wrong with mr. issa preventing a female student from baring testimony in front of that panel? what could be wrong with that? >> i think there's two things that might have troubled mr. issa about that. one is that it would have meant engag

anna marie, you're there in minnesota where mitt romney is today. he just got glitter bombed. take a listen to this. he joked about it. >> oh, i've got glitter. my hair. that's not all that's in my hair. i glue it on every morning whether i need to or not. >> miss have i has been involved. without a tel prompter, he does say the most bizarre things. he likes firing people and now he's not concerned about the poor. >> he's a very odd candidate. it's true. this is an interesting cycle to say the least. we have some candidates who really eem to not have observed the last you know, 20 years of american politics and learned how to be a presidential candidate. and i just want to point out if you're looking sort of at the chatter on the right today, there's a lot of comments about his dismissal of the very poor and they're not actually you know bemoaning the apply the of the poor but noting what a terrible candidate he is. i think that 40% of florida voters who want someone else, they want someone who knows what to do as a presidential candidate. >> dana, do you agree that he is a te

anna marie douglass remained a non reader and non writer all of her life. it's a complex story. we don't have real good answers for. we don't know if there was some kind of dyslexia or problem. but what we do know is he hired tutors. his daughter, rosetta, their oldest child, also worked very hard to help her mother learn to read and write. it never succeeded. she and douglass had a deep abiding relationship and love, but a very difficult marriage. let's put it that way. you don't want me to go into the details of that. her illiteracy was a serious problem and issue. both in their relationship and in how the family communicated. there were lots of letters that douglass writes to rosetta or lewis as they reach adulthood or before. he would say tell mother this, tell mother that. she was a great homemaker. about every major reformer from great britain in the united states, name an abolitionist that came through douglass house at some point and had tea. anna served tea and left the room. while the great man spoke to men, women, reformers, abolitionists, all, often not in her presen

thanks to robert, anna marie and richard and steve, that is all for "now," i'll see you back here tomorrowhir, and maggie habarman and eric bates, until then, follow us on twitter, happy mardi gras andrea. coming up, holy wars, santorum slams the president's faith again, what he said and what role does a candidates can religion play in politics, we have our guests to talk bit and the supreme court takes up affirmative action. >>> right now on "andrea mitchell reports" a matter of faith, first it was phone if i theology and now the jeremiah wright issue. >> went to reverend wright's church for 20 years, it's a christian church, he said he is a christian. look, i'm not going question the president, what the president believes in what it comes to his faith. >> while franklin graham, on morning joe today questioned the president's religious beliefs as well. >> so therefore by your definition, he is not a christian. >> you have to ask him. >> you do not believe he is a muslim? >> no.

. >> thanks again to ari, anna marie cox, dylan ratigan and jimmy.ylan here three hours from now, and every weekday at 4:00 eastern time. i'll see you back here tomorrow at noon, we will have a full panel. until then, follow us on twitter. "andrea mitchell reports" is next. greetings to you andrea. >> hi, alex, happy president's day to you and who is the most elect able republican candidate, santorum or romney, we will talk about the possibility of a contested convention and the odds of a new republican entering the race and a look at john glenn's first trip to orbit p 50 years ago today, and iran and syria, next on "andrea mitchell reports." the employee of the month isss... the new spark card from capital one. spark miles gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. the spark card earns double miles... so we really had to up our game. with spark, the boss earns double miles on every purchase, every day. that's setting the bar pretty high. owning my own business has never been more rewarding. coming through! [ male announcer ] introd